


and there she was

by littlewitchhazels



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Destroy Ending, F/M, Happy Ending, Reunions, hence i was inspired, particularly the quiet piano bit of 'from the wreckage', post-ME3, the mass effect soundtrack makes me so emotion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2019-02-02 23:05:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12736143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlewitchhazels/pseuds/littlewitchhazels
Summary: Over the three years they'd known each other, he’d watched her climb out from the remains of the Citadel Tower, listened to her dying breaths over a crackling comm, witnessed her impossible return to life, and stood helplessly as she charged towards a blinding beacon in a last ditch effort to save the world.But of that could prepare him for seeing her, tired but alive, right before his eyes.





	and there she was

He didn’t know why it took so long for him to finally gather the courage to step out of the Normandy. It was almost like… Waking up for the first time. Never in his life had anything felt so daunting. It all seemed too good to be true, and yet here they were. Shepard is alive, and she’s right outside the goddamn door, all he had to do was walk.

So he did.

And there she was.

Over the three tumultuous years they'd known each other, he’d watched her climb out from the remains of the Citadel Tower, listened to her dying breaths over a crackling comm, witnessed her impossible return to life, and stood helplessly as she charged towards a blinding beacon in a last ditch effort to save the world. None of that could prepare him for seeing her, tired but alive, right before his eyes. As much as he had hoped for it, her miraculous survival seemed so surreal.

But, nevertheless, she was there. And she was waiting for him. 

She was in a wheelchair, swathed in bandages around her middle, dark smudges under her eyes and a wide smile tugging at her lips. Not even the wonders of modern medicine could revive the legendary Commander Shepard after the immense damage done to her body from the blast. 

(Cybernetic implants — thats what they said — torn apart, still embedded in her flesh, by the same force that ripped through the Reaper forces like a devastating tidal wave. They saved her, though; found her stuck in the rubble two days after the blast, barely conscious and dying. It would take time to heal, but she would perhaps never walk properly again. Strange how the things that brought her back from the dead nearly served to end her life so soon after.) 

He walked towards her like a man possessed — purposefully, wordlessly — and simply stood before her before dropping to his knees, hands clutching her forearms as if they were the only things tethering him to this impossible dream, trembling as the wave of mounting emotions threatened to overcome him. He looked up searchingly, and finally met her warm brown eyes.

Perhaps she didn’t quite think this was all happening either, for all she could do was stare back with wide eyes as if seeing him for the very first time. 

Commander Shepard didn’t cry, but in this very moment she wasn’t ‘Commander Shepard’; this was Shepard from the quiet moments — the soft moments — where the only thing in the world that mattered was them.

Shepard's lips pulled into a smile, bottom lip quivering as she desperately tried to fight off the tears that were now spilling down her cheeks. She reached up hesitantly to cup Kaidan's face, shaky fingers gently caressing his cheek and tracing the line of his jaw, and he couldn't help but lean into the tangible warmth of her palm. She was so, so real. He was afraid if he even dared to blink, she'd slip through his fingers all over again. "See," she whispered, "I told you I'd be waiting."

It was moments like these, or so it was in all the vids and the novels, where there was always something smart or moving to say. But in that single moment, Kaidan had nothing. All he could do was cry in utter relief and joy over the mere fact that Shepard was alive, and that she was right there with him once again. 

**Author's Note:**

> really want to replay mass effect but 1) i have way too much work and 2) i injured my wrist and have been banned from drawing/writing/typing/playing video games for my own good... so here's something i definitely should not have been doing!


End file.
